Donations solicited for kids with heart disease

DA NANG (VNS) — US organisation Giving It Back to Kids and the VinaCapital Fund will sponsor a charity drive for 33 underprivileged children with heart disease in the city.

The sponsors will provide VND733 million (US$32,600) in funds for the charity event.

The central city, having approved the programme, said funds raised at the event would go towards fees for surgery and treatment for the underprivileged children living in the city this year.

According to Da Nang Association to Support Poor and Disadvantaged Women and Children, 200 children in the city have been diagnosed with congenital heart disease, but only 62 received free surgeries via a donation of VND 3 billion ($133,000).

The Giving It Back to Kids organisation, established in 2002, is home to 90 children, aged 3–18, from homeless or underprivileged backgrounds in Da Nang.

It has also provided $3.2 million for charitable programmes that help single mothers and girls, covering the costs of eye, heart and orthopaedic surgery for children and donating wheelchairs to people with disabilities. — VNS